


The tragedy's in the detail

by Frankie14



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Drama, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friendship, Growing Up, Heartache, Heartbreak, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Love/Hate, Romance, Terrorism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 18:43:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12371754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankie14/pseuds/Frankie14
Summary: After discovering during an argument that her mutation no longer effects John, Rogue surrenders her virginity to him the night before he joins Magneto's Brotherhood. Over the next few months Rogue finds herself becoming more and more isolated from her friends and life at the mansion as she mourns the boy she didn't realise she had been falling in love with. Her world then starts to grow darker with the Brotherhood's terrorism becoming increasingly volatile, the rise of the Phoenix and the reign of a secret terrorist group at the mercy of a deranged little girl. (Ryro but with serious angst).





	1. Alkali Lake

"That's it!" John growled snapping his Zippo shut Rogue looked up, her features pulled into a frown. The absences of the continuous snap and click of the lighter made the silence in the jet deafening.

"What's wrong?" She asked and immediately winced, it was perhaps a stupid thing to ask given their current situation.

John didn't answer though, he didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken. He just marched towards the jet's control centre and punched down a button with unnecessary force before stalking off to grab one of the many royal blue X-men jackets.

"John, where are you going?" Bobby demanded as the Blackbird's ramp began to lower down.

John rolled his eyes as he shoved his arms into the jacket's sleeves "I'm sick of this kids table shit, I'm going in there!"

Rogue felt the muscles in her shoulders tense "You can't be serious?" when John continued to ignore her, she pleaded "John they told us to stay here."

There was a knot in her throat tightening with every moment that he refused to face her. The fear that he would leave her here after what had happened between them, leave her to face it alone made her fists clench. It was typical John behaviour, cause the damage then leave it to others to clean up the mess. She perhaps should have been surprised but she wasn't, not even a little bit.

He finally turned to look at her for the first time since they had parted that morning by his tent, but Rogue found she was wrong to think it would make her feel better. There was no warmth in his eyes, they were harsh and unforgiving in a way that made her stomach twist, and the smirk that seemed to constantly be sketched on to his face was gone. John's jaw clenched as he stared at her, scrutinizing her to the point she became uncomfortable and looked down causing him to sneer.

"You always do as you're told?"

She flinched at his hard voice, hating the fact that no matter how much she wanted to answer, she couldn't find the words. John actually looked disappointed, as if she had failed in some way. He shook his head, a fractured parody of his usual smirk pulled at his lips and he turned away jogging down the ramp and into the snowy base of Alkali lake.

(That fucking asshole). A voice that sound eerily like Logan whispered inside her head. 

She bit down on her lower lip hard enough to make it bleed before huffing out a breath and charging towards the ramp. She wasn't going to allow him to do this, he couldn't keep just walking away whenever it got difficult, she wasn't going to let him, not this time. However she barely got three paces before Bobby stepped forward and grasped her gloved wrist firmly, Rogue whipped around, trying to ignore the onslaught of guilt she felt when she look at him.

"Where do you think you're going Rogue?" he asked confusion creeping into his voice.

She blinked "Bobby we have to go get him and slap some sense into him. It's too dangerous for him to be wandering around out there alone!"

"He can take care of himself, he proved that at my parent's house" Bobby groused.

Panic tore through her body to the point she could feel small beads of sweat gathering at the back of her neck. She looked imploringly into Bobby's eyes "This is different and you know it, Bobby I know you're angry at him and I understand. But he's your best friend and he's walking into a war zone"

Bobby said nothing for a moment staring intently at her, he slid his hand down from her wrist to hold her hand giving it a firm squeezed, and she squeezed his hand back. "Okay Rogue, I'll go but you need to stay here and guard the jet."

Rogue opened her mouth to argue when a sharp, abrupt pain shot through her head. She let out a gasp clutching Bobby's hand more tightly in her own. The pain stopped as suddenly as it came.

"Are you okay?" Bobby asked looking at her warily.

She didn't get to response as the pain returned tenfold, crashing through her mind, making her cry out and drop to her knees. Distantly she could hear Bobby's own cries, but the pain didn't let up long enough for her to realise the implication of such a thing. With each passing moment the pain increased, turning into blinding white, hot flashes of lightening cutting through her head. It didn't take much longer for the screaming to start, she didn't know whose screams they were but there were thousands of them, hundreds of thousands of them echoing inside her head. They were in pain, she could feel them dying, it was then that she understood that it would be the same for her, if this didn't stop soon she would die.

Bobby's hold on her hand never wavered, and then the ordeal was over. Just like that the screams and the pain were gone in an instant as though they had never been there to begin with. All that remained was a soft ringing in her ears.

She wondered how much time had passed, her throat felt like sandpaper from all her own screaming. Rogue blinked slowly and looked to Bobby who was lying next to her on the floor holding on to her hand as though it was a life line. His face was ghostly white and he was panting, his eyes appeared just as exhausted as she was sure her own did.

She licked her lips, not even attempting to rise from her position on the floor "What was that?"

Her voice came out more of a croak than anything else but Bobby seemed to understand her as he swallowed and shook his head "I don't know, but it wasn't just us was it? I felt them, the others I mean, the mutants"

"I know. So did I."

"We need to find John and the others, we have to get out of here" he muttered perhaps more to himself than her as he slowly sat up, as though any sudden movement would bring back the pain.

Rogue pressed her lips together, John was probably inside the base by now with the others, her eyes flickered over to the control panel.

"We could fly the Blackbird closer to the base"

Bobby frowned "How? I don't know how to fly this thing and neither do you, we would more likely crash the frecking jet than be of any real help."

Rogue rose to stand rather unsteadily "It can't be that hard, it will be like one of those computer games you and Peter are always playing."

He scoffed "I think there will be a bit more to it than that."

"Well let's find out, shall we?"

She stumbled over to Storm's seat, falling into the chair with a total lack of grace. Taking a deep breath she flicked the engine on, and pressed the button to close the ramp. Hating the fact that it felt like she was removing John's opinion of getting back on the jet, it was stupid truthfully because she knew he had too much pride to come back tail between his legs and he was most likely in the base by now anyway.

She took another deep breath before trying to pull the jet up, her movement was too fast and the jet jerked causing her head to fall back painfully against the back of the chair and Bobby had to reach out and grab hold of Jean's seat to keep from falling to the floor.

"Sorry" she winced, desperately trying to keep her hands steady as she steered the Blackbird toward the base.

"You're doing good Rogu- WAIT CAREFUL!"

The jet lunged forward, before spinning out and landing with a jolting, crash mere feet away from Logan and the others. Bobby quickly slammed down on the ramp button to let everyone in, placing a reassuring hand on her trembling shoulder.

"You did it!" he exclaimed with a proud smile that did nothing to slow down the wild, raging beat of her heart.

The X-men and X-students began to file in rapidly, Storm marching swiftly up to Rogue and gently pried her fingers off of the controls. Bobby grasped her hand and pulled her to one of the remaining empty passenger seats and she went with him willing, scanning the jet for John but coming up short in her search.

"Has anyone seen John?" She called out trying to get her voice to carry out over the chaos.

"Pyro?" Logan questioned his eyes making a quick study of the people inside the Blackbird

"He's with Magneto" Jean stated calmly.

Rogue went silent and remained silent until they returned to the mansion that night.


	2. The Cure Clinic

The furious yells of protesters greeted Rogue as she stepped down off of the bus and into the heaving street outside of the cure clinic. She hugged her green duffel coat tighter to her body, lowering her head and mindlessly following the line of equally skittish mutants in front of her. A harsh, cold wind scratched at her pale face making her eyes water and cheeks sting. She pulled her hood down further in an attempt to shelter her face from the seas of shouting strangers that surrounded the bus stop.

The mob was relentless in their fury, they hurled out insults towards those queuing to get inside the clinic, calling them self-loathing, weak and an embarrassment to the mutant community. Rogue frowned she wouldn't let it get to her, they didn't know what it was like, they couldn't know.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you came for the cure."

She felt her shoulders stiffen at the familiar timbre of the voice, squeezing her eyes shut as a rush of anger washed over her.

"Poor little untouchable girl." He taunted.

Resisting the urge to grind her teeth she turned to face the boy who had abandon her and Bobby at Alkali Lake. She blinked hard when she saw him, John had changed drastically in the past 4 months, his once beautiful, soft brown hair was clumsily bleached and his scrawny form was now broader, more muscular. Despite this he still stood with the same lazy confidence that he had back at the mansion, but his mocking smirk had a harder edge than it used to, there was a cruelty in it. She wanted to smack it right off his face, how dare he show up now after how he left her? Did he really think she would have anything to say to him after all this time?

When he showed no sign of breaking the silence that had developed between them, she sighed "What are you doing here John?"

"On a mission for Mags."

Rogue's nostrils flared "So Jean was right, you did join Magneto."

"Did you think differently?" he asked calmly

"How could you? After everything you knew he did to me!"

John's smirk faltered slightly "It wasn't personally Rogue."

She snorted "Wasn't it? It certainly felt personally when you left me on the jet that day. Especially with what happened the night before"

"I was just leaving before I was made too"

Rogue's lips fell apart in surprise but before she could speak John cut in "Oh spare me, I know how it goes 'the good little girl has a little dally on the wild side before returning to her safe boyfriend' I was just made sure I wasn't around to have to witness it."

She gapped at him "That's not how it was."

He looked unmoved by her statement "No? Suppose it doesn't matter now."

"No." She agreed "I suppose it doesn't."

The line of mutants behind Rogue seemed to grow weary of waiting and began shoving pass her to keep up with the flow of the queue. She scowled as one large man pushed her particularly hard. John rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of her upper arm dragging her out of the way of the moving line.

"Get of me!" She huffed pulling her arm away from him.

"Oh calm down, you can get back in line for your precious cure after we're finished."

Rogue nearly growled at him "Don't you judge me! You have no idea what it's like for me, we didn't all get pretty pyrotechnics for powers! For some of us our mutations have caused nothing but suffering"

John sneered down at her "Our mutations are what make us better than the rest of them, they're a gift, and you're ready to throw away what makes you special all because you can't hold hands with Bobby Drake."

She slapped him hard across the face, relishing in the way his head snapped to the side.

"Don't you dare!" She snarled "You have no idea what it's like to not be able to touch people, to never experience the warmth of human contact. Yes I'm sure it's so easy for you and Magneto to preach that your mutations are a gift when you can make pretty shapes in flames and float metal. But for the rest of us, those who weren't as lucky as you, this cure offers hope. A chance to get our lives back."

John's jaw clenched, his eyes flickering over the crowd before closing the space between them and shoving Rogue painfully up against the brick wall behind her. He pressed himself into her space, his breath felt warm against her face and smelt vaguely of the peppermint gum he used to chew in class.

She would be lying if she said that she had never imagined being pushed against a wall by John, however in those fantasies it happens under very different circumstances.

"Yes it's all very sad for you isn't Rogue? The poor, sad untouchable girl."

She struggled against his hold, very tempted to spit in the jerk's face.

"Except it's not all that tragic is it?" he hummed "Because you seem to forget, I can touch you"

Rogue froze, wide brown eyes staring into his warm blue ones. John seemed intent to prove his point as he leaned forward and brushed his nose against the shell of her ear. She hated the shiver that raced down her spine at the gesture. Nothing happened just like it hadn't that night in his tent, her mutation didn't rush into action as it did at every other touch. She swallowed hard, blinking rapidly "Joh-"

John apparently satisfied that nothing had changed since that night continued on in his demonstration, gently grazing her earlobe with his lips before placing an open mouthed kiss at the end of her jaw. She bit down on her bottom lip, ignoring the treacherous fluttering in her stomach and shoved at his shoulders.

"Stop"

John hummed his acknowledgement placing one more kiss beneath her jawline and stepped back. Rogue could feel heat spreading across her face as she glared at him.

He merely shrugged "You can go run and get your cure now, just not in this clinic."

His words didn't even register properly in her head before she saw him fling his arm out and a flare of fire swirled out toward the clinic. The crowds surrounding the building screamed and ran for cover as the flames blasted through the clinic.

She felt her knee's give way in shock and leaned back against the wall. Tears of horror welling in her eyes, as she turned her glaze back to John the feeling of dismay increased. His eyes were crazed and enraged. She could almost see the fire whirling around inside of him calling to him to feed his burning rage.

A pained gasp torn itself from her lips "You really are Pyro now aren't you?"

He didn't answers, he just turned away throwing a mocking "See you around sweetheart" over his shoulder as he disappeared into the manic crowd.

Rogue sagged against the wall, slowly sliding down to the ground her eyes fixed on the burning building. She couldn't believe what he had done. Which she supposed was sad really because what did she expect, he had joined Magneto's Brotherhood and they were Terrorists, this was exactly what they did. There was a pain her in chest and stomach that grew with each breath. She sobbed hating John more than ever for leaving in the first place, and allowing that madman to twist him into something horrifying.

...

A young girl knelt down upon a cold floor, her dirty, yellow summer dress flaring out as she did so. She was being watched, she knew it. Not that it made any difference they could study her all day, it wouldn't mean that they would get anything new from her. Her arms twitched absently, they did that from time to time and she had long since grown tired of trying to suppress it.

The iron door groaned as it opened, the sound Emma's heeled shoes on the concert echoing as she walked inside the cell. The girl didn't move all, except her left arm which twitched all the more violently.

"Have you seen anything else Anna?"

When the girl didn't answer, Emma walked around to face the child. Unlike most she wasn't afraid of Anna's pupiless eyes, she understood the beauty of them, while the child was blind, her eyes did offer her a different kind of sight. A far more useful sight in Emma's opinion.

"Come now, my friends on the other side of that door tell me that you had another seizure this morning, won't you tell me what you saw?"

The girl remained silent, sighing Emma crouched down and stroked the girls ratty brown hair "We're friends aren't we Anna? You told me about what you saw before, about the burning bird and empty wheel chair. Why don't you tell me what you saw this morning?"

Anna flinched away from the older woman and stumbled back onto her bruised feet. Emma sighed again clearly exasperated, and rose to her full height "Perhaps you will feel like talking later, I'll send in the doctor"

"No" Anna whimpered "I don't like the doctor he makes me sleep."

"Yes. We will talk later"

The child shivered as Emma walked out, the door shutting loudly behind her.


	3. Nightmares

Rogue woke suddenly and with a start, her nightmare still swarming around her mind making her breathe out harshly. She kicked the tangled bed sheets away from her legs and sluggishly sat up to lean against the oak headboard. With shaking fingers she pushed back her hair grimacing at the fact it was soaked with sweat, she then reached across her bedside table and flicked the lamp on. The dull, yellow glow chasing off any remaining remnants of the nightmare.

It had been five days since John had burnt down the cure clinic, and she had suffered from nightmares every night since. It was always the same details that remerged in each dream, the screams of the frighten crowd, the flames licking their way up the walls and John's crazed, furious eyes.

She hadn't told anyone what she had witnessed, in truth she hadn't even told anyone that she had gone to the cure clinic to begin with. She had just returned later that day looking slightly shaken and told those who asked that she had simply gone out to clear her head. When Logan asked she just sighed and said that she had changed her mind. She hadn't, not at all but now feared what would happen if she did go to another clinic.

With a huff Rogue climbed out of bed and grabbed her robe on the way to her bedroom door. If she wasn't going to be able to get anymore sleep she would find something else to do, and she could do with glass of water.

...

Rogue groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she padded her way into the mansion's kitchen, the light was already on and Logan was seated on a stool by the counter sipping one of the prohibited beers he always kept stashed away behind Peter's questionably flavoured potato chips.

"What you doing up kid?" Was his gruff greeting

"I'm not a kid" she replied somewhat half-hearted and childishly as she dragged her feet over to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked, taking another long sip of beer

"Who needs sleep?" She muttered bitterly, coming to sit opposite from him.

Logan arched a thick eyebrow "Apparently no one in this school."

His comment was immediately followed by the sound of multiple girlish giggles from the room above them, Rogue scowled.

"Storm's being all lenient on them, letting them have their little slumber parties and such. Anything to cheer them all up since the professor." Logan rumbled looking down the neck of the beer bottle intently.

"Right."

A silence grew and she saw no reason to end it, she wasn't in any particular mood for a chat anyway. She twisted the cap off the water bottle with unnecessary force, a small bit of water sloshing over the edge onto her wrist.

She could feel Logan staring at her but refused to look back, she lifted the water bottle and took a large swig.

"Look kid, I know I'm not your father but something's bothering you, it has been ever since you got back and I want you to know you can talk to me."

Rogue still stubbornly refused to look up at him, she would tell him everything if she did and she couldn't think of anything less that she wanted to talk about.

"I thought you didn't go for all that 'touchy-feely crap' hmmm?"

He coughed "Rogue don't be a brat, I'm just saying that if you want to talk I'm here." He finished the last of his beer and tossed the bottle in the bin next to them.

"I'm sorry" she sighed "I'm just tired, I haven't really slept properly since I came back from the clinic"

Logan frowned "I thought you said you didn't make it to the clinic, that you changed your mind?"

Rogue's eyes flickered up to him, he raised his brow at her and she groaned "I did make it to the clinic, that the problem"

"You were there when it blew?"

She nodded biting down on her bottom lip "Yes and just in time to see who did it"

He grimaced "Pyro?"

She nodded again, taking large sip of water while fiddling with the lid in her other hand.

"That must have been rough" he stated, getting up and opening the nearest cupboard to grab another beer from behind the strategically placed potato chips.

"Yeah it was, seeing him like that. Seeing that he capable of doing something like that, it was awful" she could feel a knot forming in her throat and took another desperate mouthful of water. Hoping Logan wouldn't notice how wet her eyes had become.

"So that's why you didn't get the cure, you didn't change your mind?"

She swallowed "No."

He pressed his lips into a thin line waited a beat and then asked "Do you miss him?"

Rogue felt the familiar pain rise in her chest, yes she did miss John. She missed him more than she would admit. But Logan was staring down at her and she was sure it was all over her face, so she just nodded.

"Where does Drake fit into all of this?"

She took a deep breath "I broke up with him the day after we got back from Alkali Lake. He hasn't really spoken to me much since."

Logan pulled the cap lid off his beer "Yeah well it was probably the right thing to do all things considered."

Rogue frowned unsure what he meant and watched as he grew uncomfortable under her stare and shifted his feet awkwardly.

"I have enhanced hearing you'll remember, and I didn't get much sleep the night we camped at the Lake"

It took longer than it should have for her to connect the dots, but when she did she nearly dropped her water bottle. Her face turning a bright shade of red. Suddenly Logan's awkward standoffishness that morning made horrible sense.

"I…I'm mortified" Rogue uttered pressing her flushed face into her hand, afraid to even look at Logan.

"Yeah? Imagine how I felt." Despite the accusatory tone there was a playful glint in his eyes and a teasing smile tugged at his lips and Rogue found herself failing to fight off a smile herself. Then for the first time in a long time she laughed. It wasn't a side-splitting, eye watering laugh, it wasn't even a particularly loud or long one, but it was nice, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Logan smiling at her.

She felt a sadness settle in her heart that here Logan was trying to cheer her up and make her laugh, when he was suffering so much with his own loss. She tilted herself to the side to face him properly "It works both ways you know, I'm here if you need to talk too."

He bobbed his head "I know kid"

Rogue sighed and looked down at her hands "I don't think I ever said, that I'm sorry about Jean"

Logan coughed uncomfortably "There wasn't anything anyone could have done, from what the professor said it was going to happen sooner or later regardless of what anyone did."

"Does it help? Knowing that?"

"No." He responded resolutely.

A silence settled over them which neither chose to break, the only sounds being the muffled giggles upstairs and Logan occasionally swigging from his beer bottle.

After a few minutes he exhaled "He might still come back you know"

Rogue pursed her lips "I'd say the chances of John returning to the mansion are about the same as for Jean"

"I think you might be wrong about that, I saw the way that boy looked at you"

She smiled tightly "And I saw the way Jean looked at you, do you think she's going to walk back through that door?"

Logan gave her a pointed look before letting out a defeated "No."

She rubbed her face wearily "I'm being a bitch, I'm sorry."

"We're all stressed kid, it's not like I've never snapped at you" he said throwing his empty bottle in the trash. "I'll give you some peace and go see if Storm is up. If I can't sleep she aint gunna either."

Rogue nodded feeling a wave of shame for being so short with him, it seem there was no end to the list of people she could push away recently.

...

Anna whimpered as quietly as she could as Emma walked back into her cell, the familiar sound of stilettos on hard concert making her wince. The young girl was curled up in the corner of the room and had the side of her face pressed up against the cold, unforgiving wall hard enough almost to bruise.

"Are you feel more conversational today Anna?" Emma asked in a kind, motherly voice and Anna's arms twitched.

"Why don't you tell me what you saw?"

Feeling tears gather in her eyes at the thought of the older woman sending for the doctor again, she whispered "I can't be certain."

She could almost feel Emma smile "Can't be certain of what child?"

"Of what I saw." Anna said in soft snivel and pressed the left side of her face harder into the wall, the pain was helpful, it grounded her.

"Well why don't you tell me some of the details and we'll work it out together? Like we did before."

The little girl shook her head, tears falling down her hollow cheeks "No, you don't understand, I can't be certain but I think I saw the end."

"The end of what?"

Anna sniffed "The end of times."


	4. Home

Magneto walked with his hands clasped tightly together behind his back, up the grass bank towards his new charge, Jean Grey. But she did not so much as turn her head or otherwise give him any indication that she had noticed his arrival.

"Do you remember when we first met?" He asked slowly coming to stand next to her, even just being near her Magneto was astounded at the power that just radiated from the Phoenix. "Do you know what I saw?" He carried on edging closer with a proud smile tugging at his lips "I saw the next stage in evolution, it was what Charles and I dreamt of finding."

He watched her closely for any twitch of acknowledgement, but her face remained an impassive mask, she didn't even blink, she just continued to stare down at the large groups of mutants that made up his Brotherhood, below them.

Magneto smiled "You know I just had the most interesting phone call from an old acquaintance."

The Phoenix remained unmoved by his conversation, her eyes flickered from one mutant to the next, seeming to pay little mind to any of them above a quick glance.

"A marvellously talented mutant by the name of Emma Frost, she called to tell me about a young girl in her charge calle-"

"Anna."

He nodded approvingly "Yes Anna. A mutant gifted with visions of the future."

The Phoenix side eyed him "The future is a fickle, indefinite thing. It changes with the slightest of choices."

"That's what so special about young Anna, she sees an inevitable future where other seers only glimpse at a changeable one."

"There's no such thing as an inevitable future." She replied shifting her glaze back towards his Brotherhood, her tone was even and low, unwavering in its certainty.

Magneto chuckled "Suspend your disbelief my dear, Emma is rarely wrong. Consider instead that the child see the mostly likely of all futures." He placed a worn hand on her shoulder "Besides it is her most recent vision that holds my interest. Do you know what she saw?"

The Phoenix tilted her head and stared at him for a moment before replying "The end."

...

Jubilee impatiently tapped her long, perfectly manicured fingers on her knee, absently humming Nirvana under her breath as she waited for Kitty to finally come out from Rogue's bathroom. "I'm telling you she'll pick the blue one, she keeps going back to the bloody blue one." She muttered to Rogue who was lying on her bed flipping through one of the many fashion magazines Jubilee had brought to her room for Kitty's makeover.

"If you don't like the blue one why did you give it to her to try on?"

"A girl needs options! And I didn't think she would seriously consider it, the dress looks like it belongs on Shirley bloody Temple!" Jubilee huffed, crossing her arms and getting up to pace around Rogue's bedroom.

"Well you certainly gave her enough options, how many dresses has she tried on 15?"

"Yeah and she keeps going back to the bloody blue one." Jubilee grumbled with a roll of her eyes.

Rogue glanced up at her glowering friend "If Kitty wants to wear a ridiculous blue table cloth then let her, it's not hurting anyone" she said trying to pacify the irritated girl.

"It hurts me! I can't let people think I sugges-"

"You know I can hear the two of you right?" Kitty's voice sharply called out from the bathroom making the other two girls wince.

"Sorry Kitty" Rogue sheepishly replied.

"Yes sorry Kitty" Jubilee parroted before continuing in one breath "But I'm serious we shall not be friends if you leave this room wearing that monstrosity, I will not have it said that I allowed my best friend to go out on a date wearing a picnic blanket!"

Rogue raised an eyebrow at the comment and the other girl shrugged her shoulders defensively "It's her best interest I have at heart"

"You are a true philanthropist." Kitty replied dryly as she emerged from the bathroom wearing a black strappy dress and the red heels Jubilee had insisted she pair it with.

"Well this is an improvement" Jubilee claimed and motioned for Kitty to twirl around.

"You don't think the red shoes are a bit much?"

"Oh of course not, they're a statement piece."

"And that statement is what exactly?" Rogue enquired from her place over on the bed.

"That my shoes are bright enough to stop traffic" Kitty responded and Rogue snorted in amusement while Jubilee stared disapprovingly between them.

"Joke all you want, I know what I'm talking about. We just need a little black handbag, a leather jacket and some red lipstick to balance it all out and you'll knock Peter's socks off"

"Is that still an expression?" Kitty asked smiling

"No I think it died out a while ago" Said Rogue with a deadpan expression on her face.

"Oh no! Not so trendy now are we Jubilee?" Kitty teased

Jubilee rolled her eyes at the two of them "The whole point of being of being a trend setter is that I can say and wear whatever I like and the rest of you copy, that's how fashion works."

"Ohhh is that how it works? I'll be sure to remember that." Rogue stated as she climbed off of her bed and made her way over to her wardrobe to fetch a leather jacket for Kitty to borrow. It took a second of rummaging to find it buried at the very back of the closet and she hummed in satisfaction that it wasn't creased, while Jubilee fiddled with the straps of Kitty's dress, trying to make them sit properly and symmetrically on her narrow shoulders until Kitty finally grew tired of her faffing and swatted her hands away.

Rogue handed her the jacket and she slipped it on quickly then wandered over to the full length mirror on the closet door.

"Okay you just need a little handbag or a clutch bag"

"I have a black clutch bag I could use" answered Kitty as she checked out the outfit, twirling left and right to see every angle.

"Good. Do you like the dress? Please don't say you like the blue one still" Jubilee questioned in a whine

"Yes I like this dress, I'll probably wear it tonight, I'm just not sure about the shoes"

Jubilee groaned throwing her head back in despair "Please just trust me and wear them they look great, just put on some red lipstick when you do your makeup to balance it"

"You look great Kitty, you really do" Rogue assured her as she sat back down on her bed.

Kitty then nodded to herself, checking her appearance once more in the mirror before inhaling "Okay, Thank you. Thanks both of you, I better go do my hair and face or I'm going to have no time, it's already nearly six." Kitty waved to both of them and hurried out of the room as the other two wished her good luck.

Rogue laid back on the bed, and threw her right arm over her eyes "God that took forever, I'm exhausted."

"Not too exhausted I hope?" Jubilee grinned "Because now it's our turn."

Rogue frowned and lifted her arm away, disliking the mischievous gleam in the other girl's eyes "What are you talking about?"

"We are going out on the town. A whole group of us actually"

Her frown deepen "Who's we? I don't want to go out Jubilee, not now"

"Oh don't be such a sour puss! It's you, me, Bobby, Graham, Theresa and that blue blooded looking kid Warren, we're only going to a bar that's at most 10 minutes away we won't even need to get a cab."

"I don't know, with everything that's happening right now it doesn't seem like a good idea" Rogue mumbled

Jubilee tutted as she ruffled through the messy pile of dresses Kitty had left on Rogue's floor "The bar is mutant friendly, it will be fine. Besides I could definitely use a drink and so could you. It will be fun" she then stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Rogue with mock seriousness "You do remember fun don't you?"

"Vaguely"

"Well, all the more reason to go and I have the perfect dress for you!" She exclaimed holding up a dark burgundy dress with a plunging neckline.

"I can't wear that!" Rogue gasped

"Jesus you're worse that Kitty" her friend muttered seemingly more to herself than to Rogue.

"Kitty doesn't have skin that can put someone in a coma"

"No but you can wear gloves, a jacket and some tights. It will be fine." Jubilee repeated and she brought the dress over to Rogue.

"What about the gapping neckline?" Rogue commented

"If someone is touching you there without your permission, then they deserve to be put in a coma."

….

They finally made it too the bar for eight, it had taken Jubilee twenty odd minutes to convince Rogue that she should come out and another thirty to convince her that she should wear that ridiculous red dress. However despite her initial reluctance Rogue would admit that she was having a good time. It hadn't been that busy when they first arrived but within an hour or so it was packed to the brim with mutants and humans alike, all getting along with relatively ease. The bar's notorious mutant friendly environment and zero tolerance for violence meant that Rogue and the others could relax in the knowledge that they would not be ridiculed or judged in this particular setting.

There was a lively atmosphere amongst the students, with Bobby and Theresa playing a very competitive game of darts towards the back end of the large bar and Graham trying desperately to put the moves on some of the blonde haired girls by the juke box with increasingly sleazy lines, making Jubilee cringe and snort in amusement.

Rogue was sat on the bar's tatty, green leather sofas with Warren and Jubilee opposite her, watching on at Graham's pathetic display with growing mirth.

"God it's embarrassing, you'd think he'd figure out that none of them are interested"

"I don't know, one of those ladies might find him charming, even if you don't." Warren put forth politely as he sipped at his scotch, his eyes twinkling at the girl sat next to him.

Jubilee nearly howled, throwing her head back in glee "Warren if Graham actually pulls a girl tonight I'll give you a hundred bucks!"

He smiled back at her and sweetly husked "A gentleman never takes money from a lady."

Rogue could have sworn she saw a blush tint her friend's cheeks, it was so unlike Jubilee to get flustered over a guy but within the few weeks since Warren had arrived at the mansion he had seemed to have developed an almost magical effect on Jubilee that every smile and kind word reduced the usually self-assured girl into a puddle of nervous giddiness.

Not that Rogue thought this was bad, no if anything it was nice to see her best friend meet a guy that made her that excitedly nervous. She deserved some attention and while Jubilee had no shortage of male attention back at the mansion none of it had ever seem to garner any real enthusiasm from her. But Warren with his soft smile, compassionate eyes and gentlemanly manners had definitely won Jubilee's interest.

"No? Well how about this; if Graham gets a phone number from one of those girls before the night is over you own me a dance?"

He shook his head "No I'm afraid that doesn't suit me either."

"And why not?" Jubilee asked cocking a brow

"Because then I have to wait all night for Graham in order to dance with you."

Rogue smiled as Jubilee grinned and grabbed Warren's hand. "No you don't" she stated and she pulled him up to stand "Rogue can you watch my purse?"

Rogue nodded and watched as her friend skipped off towards the makeshift dance floor with Warren following eagerly behind. There was a dull pang in her chest at the sight of the two of them beaming happily at each other as they began to dance, it wasn't hard for her to figure out why, she was lonely, simple as that. The past few months had seen her lose both her boyfriend and his best friend, the boy she should have never allowed herself to fall for.

She didn't know if she had truly started to fall for John before he left, but it had certainly felt like it. She had been ready to leave Bobby, a boy who had only ever treated her with utter respect, for him. She had been completely consumed by John, entirely absorbed in way she never had been with anyone else, not even in her brief infatuation with Logan. Then when he left something inside her fell apart and no matter how she tried to move past it, that something remained in pieces.

She continued to observe as her friends dance together amongst a mass of others, all the while the pang in her chest continued to grow until she had to look away. She didn't want to turn into one of those people who became bitter at other people's happiness, her mother had been like that and Rogue stubbornly refused to become anything like her mother.

Sighing she rose from the low sofa placing both the small, black purses on the coffee table over her shoulder and picked up her, Warren and Jubilee's empty glasses and carried them over to the bar, gently shoving the heaving crowd out of her way with her elbows. She placed the glasses down as gently as she could and patiently waited for one of the five bartenders to serve her.

Rogue didn't have to wait too long as a tall, red haired barmaid sashayed over and smiled rather friendlily at her "What can I get for you honey?" her voice was almost overly light and bubbly making Rogue wonder just how much energy it took to keep it that way.

"Just another JD and coke please" she answered, her own voice sounding several pitches lower that the red head "Actually wait, I'll have a bottle of Budweiser please." A bottled drink she could take outside, and she was starting to crave fresh air.

"Sure thing."

Rogue nibbled on her lower lip as she watched the barmaid grab the bottle from one of the small fridges and pop the lid off placing it on the bar "There you go my lovely, that's $3.80"

She handed the money over with a mumbled "Thank you" and shook her head when the girl asked if she wanted a straw.

She took a long swig of the beer as she wandered out the front entrance of the bar. The outside was deserted as most of the bar's patrons used the back garden as the smoking area. Rogue walked down the sidewalk a little distance and leaned back against the cool brick wall of the establishment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She didn't know what was wrong with her, why she couldn't seem to let herself go and have a bit of fun for more than five minutes at a time without needing to go off for little breaks.

There's nothing wrong with me she decided, she was just stressed and there was nothing wrong with that, everyone had been stressed recently and with good reason, this was just simply how she dealt with it. She would go back inside in a minute she just needed a moment to breathe.

"Not having fun?"

Rogue did not open her eyes, she didn't even move, she wouldn't allow him to think he had any effect on her anymore. She shouldn't have been surprised to see him not really, he always used to come to this bar with his fake ID before he left, but she was surprised. Perhaps because she never assumed that after everything that had happened that he would come back to a place so close to home.

"Come to burn down another building Pyro?" She asked, slowly opening her eyes and looking over at him. John was stood a few feet away from her with his hands in his pockets and his feet spread apart.

"Not tonight."

Rogue laughed dryly "No? No innocent people you need to scorch alive."

He didn't even so much as blink at her words, she didn't think she could be any more horrified at what he had done but the fact that he seemed so unperturbed by it was nearly just as terrifying.

John's eyes trailed down her form taking her in and Rogue glared at him. "Jubilee dress you?" He enquired with a nod to her outfit.

She looked away and he chuckled "I'll take that as a yes. I assume it was her idea for you to come out tonight too."

"She thought it would be good for a group of us to get out, have a little evening away from all the horror and destruction your boss has brought down upon everyone." She spit out harshly

"So who's in there then?" John asked completely ignoring her dig at Magneto, his eyes now locked on the entrance of the bar.

She wondered if he was worried that one of them would suddenly come out and give the traitor the greeting he deserved. He didn't look worried, in fact his face hadn't changed from the blank expression of indifference it had worn throughout their whole conversation.

"Bobby, Graham, Theresa, this new guy Warren and Jubilee of course." She watched in satisfaction as John's face twitched in annoyance at the mention of Bobby's name, the first bit of emotion he had shown since they had started speaking.

He took a step towards her and she flinched, which made him pause mid step, he frowned slightly before sneering "So it's like that now?"

"It didn't have to be, you made it that way"

John stared hard at her "You don't understand, you never did" and then he gave her that look again, the same disappointed glance he had thrown her as he left the jet.

Rogue felt a fury burn through her body at the sight of it and she launched herself off the wall at him "Yes I remember!" she hissed in his face "You're a god among insects isn't that it?"

He smirked "Yes. That's exactly it"

Her nostrils flared, she was trembling with anger and the urge to strike him across his smug face. The worst thing was she was doing precisely what she had sworn she wouldn't, she was letting him get to her. Frustration bubbled up inside of her. "Leave John, go back to your gang of criminals and stay away!"

"No, I don't think I will. Perhaps I'll go inside and see Drake, his probably missed his old friend" he side stepped her sharply and made to go towards the bar's entrance.

Rogue seized his arm firmly in her gloved hand forcing him to look back her. "You leave Bobby alone" she practically snarled.

John just proceeded to smirk infuriatingly at her, there was a stinging familiarity to it, a harsh reminder of times past, never to return. There was that pain in her chest again but she adamantly refused to acknowledge it.

"Don't worry I'm not going to start a fight with your boyfriend, I just want to say hi" he teased, his smirk growing in its cruelty.

She abruptly let go of his arm "Fine go say hello, it's not like you'd win in a fight anyway, there are dozens of mutants in there who hate you and your boss" and with that she turned, threw her beer into the dumpster and started hastily walking down the street. The sound of her high heels echoing loudly in her ears. She knew he'd follow her, however she experienced little satisfaction at being right as he stormed furiously up to her and roughly manhandled her into the narrow alley to their right.

Rogue shoved at him, frantically trying to break his hold on her as he pulled her roughly up against his body. "Let go of me" she growled locking her glaze with his. It was so much darker in the alley than it had been back on the street, but even in the darkness she could see the fire dancing wildly around in his eyes.

"You've always been so very good at playing the victim haven't you Rogue?" He taunted.

"Go to Hell!" She hated him, she really did and when he reached forward and kissed her she kissed him back with equal fervour. It was stupid, she was well aware of that, to even entertain the thought of kissing him after all he had done was ridiculous and terrible. But here she was acting like a total irresponsible idiot because despite everything, all the pain and betrayal and heartache it felt right, it felt like coming home.

John was unyielding in his kisses, each one feeling like both a punishment and a desperate plea for forgiveness, and she could feel her eyes becoming wet from the intensity of it all. It had to stop, she couldn't be this person, this selfish, reckless person, and she didn't want to be. Rogue knew she needed to leave, to get as far away from him as possible but she didn't know how. How to end it, to break away and make him keep the distance. He kissed her with a passion that made her head spin, with each passing moment she could feel her resolve slipping away far beyond her reach.

She became distantly aware of him walking her backwards until she hit something solid behind her. She broke away desperately gulping in lungful's of air as he stared back at her, his eyes trailing down her body appraisingly. His fingers lightly grazed her stomach making her quiver "Did Drake like you in this dress?" he asked roughly.

Rogue swallowed, her eyes flickering between his own dark ones "I..I don't know, he didn't say"

"Isn't that the type of thing a guy usually tells his girlfriend?" he groused.

He doesn't know she realised, but then of course he didn't, how could he? He had left that morning and she'd only seen him once since then and it had hardly been the right environment to tell him. Truthfully she wasn't even sure he deserved to know, what possible reason should she have to tell him? It wasn't like he was ever coming back. However it seemed wrong not to say now, given the fact they had been kissing just moments ago.

"Bobby's not…I mean..I broke up with him." The words felt heavy as they fell from her lips.

John's eyes widen slightly and he nearly stepped back "When?"

"The day after Alkali Lake, when we got back to the mansion." She took great satisfaction at the look that crossed his face then, a mix between surprise and stunned wonder.

"You never sai-"

"You never asked, you just assumed like you always do" she interrupted still enjoying how utter bewildered he looked. Good! She thought it serves him right, he had always thought that he knew everything, knew better than everyone else, well now she had proven him wrong and it felt just bloody wonderful.

"What did you tell him?" John asked, his hand sliding from her stomach to grasp her waist.

"I didn't tell him about what happened at the campsite, there was no point, you were gone and I didn't want to hurt him for no reason." Rogue stated firmly, staring at his chest almost afraid to look up and see his reaction, not that she thought that she was in anyway wrong, Bobby was a good guy it wouldn't have been fair to hurt him when it served no purpose. It wasn't like she and John had gotten together after, no John had just walked out on them.

She saw him nod and looked up, there was something akin to regret in his eyes but it was gone in an instant. But even the brief glimpse of it was so incredibly foreign on John Allerdyce's face that it was shocking. She didn't know what to say to him, there were many things that she would have liked to have said but nothing seemed appropriate in that moment, least of all the thing she found she most wanted to say 'come home'.

Rogue was startled to find she was crying, tears slipping delicately down her face to drop one by one onto her chest. John lifted his hand and used his thumb to brush away the wetness on her face with surprising tenderness. Her lips parted and with a shaky breath she whispered "I miss you."

His face was a riot of emotions, each one just as intense as the one that preceded it. He leaned forward then and kissed her once more with an urgency that his previous kisses had lacked. She wished she could say she hesitated, but alas she didn't, not even for a second. Their lips moved together in a frenzied dance that left her breathless and aching, her gloved hands running through his bleached hair as he pressed himself closer against her body.

All the while a small voice whispered inside her head that she shouldn't be doing this.


	5. Harsh Light of Day

"Where's Rogue?" A smiling Bobby asked before he lifted his pint to his lips and took a generous sip, Theresa was standing next to him bouncing from one foot to the other, practically giddy from her impressive darts victory. The two of them had only just finished their fourth game, in which Theresa had claimed her fourth win, and had made their way over to re-join their friends at the cluster of tatty green sofas.

Jubilee grinned at Theresa from her seat next to Warren as the smaller girl continued on with her acclaimed 'Ancient art of victory dancing' before replying to Bobby "I think she went to the bathroom, we've just finished dancing and she wasn't here."

Bobby's smile falter slightly and he glanced behind him towards the queue of people waiting to use the toilets "We were playing darts over there the whole time and I never saw her pass. Did you?" He asked casting his gaze to Theresa, who stopped her little jig and furrowed her brows then shook her head, blonde curls falling over her bony shoulders. "Is she with Graham?"

Jubilee snorted "I doubt it Graham's over there still trying t…well holy shit! He actually managed to pull one of them!" She stared with an open mouth over at her dark haired friend who was currently play tonsil tennis with a tall, busty barmaid by the jukebox.

Warren snickered and nudged her arm "I told you one of them was bound to find him charming."

"Yeah either that or she's out of her mind wasted" she replied with a good natured roll of her eyes before spotting Bobby frowning at her "What?"

"Rogue? Where is she?" He barked out in frustration

"I told you, she's probably in the bathroom" Jubilee huffed back at him, squeezing herself closer to Warren, who immediately wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders, much to her delight.

"I'm telling you she's not, I would have seen her walk over"

"And I'm telling you that unless you've been inside the girls bathroom in the last five minutes that you have no way of knowing she isn't. You were busy playing darts Bobby, it's not like you were watching the ladies line to the toilet." She stated in annoyance, however her own eyes quickly flickered over to the door of the ladies toilets in mild concern.

Bobby opened his mouth to argue before Warren interceded "If she's not back in five minutes we'll go look for her, okay?"

…...

I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, it's wrong!

The words repeated like a mantra inside her head, never letting up for a single second. Despite this she found herself unable to stop kissing John like he was her oxygen, her clarity, however as each moment passed she found her mind growing cloudier. With each press of his lips and brush of his tongue she fell further into oblivion, unable to heed the warnings her own mind screamed at her.

Stop he's a killer, he burnt the clinic down, he works for the man who tried to kill you, stop before it's too late, before you go too far!

I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, it's wrong!

But she didn't stop, and she didn't stop him either, no matter how much she knew she should, no matter how much she hated him for all that he had done. She didn't stop him from reaching under her dress and pulling her tights down, she didn't stop him from parting her legs with his thigh, and she didn't stop him from sliding her panties to the side and slipping a finger inside.

Her head fell back against the brick wall of the dark alley and she gasped out a silent moan, her fingers digging harder into his solid shoulders.

I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, it's wrong!

…

"Where the hell have you all been?!" Logan yelled at the small group of students in front of him, all of them flinching at the sharp, guttural tone he used. It was well past three in the morning and said students had been found stumbling drunkenly in the front door with seemingly little regard for the noise they made.

Storm was stood next to the fuming Wolverine in her grey, silk pyjamas with her arms crossed tightly against her chest. To say she was disappointed in them was a gross understatement, they were usually a respectful, well behaved group beside Graham's relentless lack of homework and the odd overly eccentric plot of Jubilee's. To find them sneaking out of the mansion to get drunk just weeks after the professor's death was hurtful more than anything, she was so beyond disappointed. So she remained silent and allowed Logan to vent his anger out at them.

Storm's silence was apparently only serving to make the students more nervous as Jubilee and Theresa kept glancing over at her with anxious expressions, while Warren and Bobby struggled to keep an unconscious Graham upright.

"The professor's been gone how long and you're already acting up, what kind of respect is that?" Logan spat with a look of utter repulse, making Theresa hang her head in shame. "It's a good thing he aint here to see how you kids treat his memory."

"We're not kids anymore." Said Bobby, staring levelly at the older man, something that perhaps under different circumstances Logan would have found himself respecting.

"No?" He asked, his gaze traveling over the small group of teenagers or young adults whatever they were, there was a gravity in all of their eyes that Logan couldn't ignore, not like the fact that Jubilee was hugging a bottle of beer closely to her chest and not even bothering to hide it, something that would definitely later eat away at his ever shrinking pride. Yes nothing destroys a man's ego more than living with teenagers.

"No." Bobby answered firmly before continuing "We only went out to the mutant friendly bar five minutes away, to share a drink over the professor's memory and to try and have a nice time, something that feels impossible inside the mansion at the moment. We had no intention of staying out this late but-"

"But what?" Storm questioned, not liking the way each of their faces grew pale and tense.

"But then Rogue disappeared, we tried looking for her that's why we're so late back, but we couldn't find her anywhere." Mumbled Theresa, glancing apprehensively between Logan and Storm.

Logan and Storm exchanged a look "Rogue disappeared? How? When?" The latter asked in concern.

"We don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Logan growled out at Theresa who flinched at his voice.

"Warren and I were dancing, Graham was chatting up girls and Bobby and Theresa were playing darts, we don't know where she went. The last time I saw her she was sitting down with a drink guarding my purse, which she still has by the way or at least I hope she still has otherwise I've lost it-"

"Jubilee get to the frigging point" Logan barked

"When we came back to the sofa she had been sitting on, she was gone. We searched everywhere, even the streets around the bar we couldn't find her."

"You don't think Magneto had something to do with this" Storm wondered, staring at an increasing tense looking Logan.

"Either him or any one of the thousands of other people who mean to harm mutants."

…...

The stupid curtains weren't doing their job because sunlight was streaming steadily through and piercing Rogue's eyes behind her closed eyelids. She groaned and buried her face into the scratchy, starched pillow in a desperate attempt to gain a few more minutes sleep. She wasn't ready to wake up, not yet, she didn't want to have to face what she did last night, and she didn't want to have to face the person she knew was sleeping soundly next to her in small, lumpy bed.

She was an idiot, an absolute moron with no moral compass to speak of for allowing last night to happen. It didn't matter about their past or what her feelings for him were, everything was different now, all of it irrevocably changed and she should never have let herself get into this situation. The worse thing was she couldn't even claim that it had been the alcohol, she'd had about four drinks at the most and had barely touch her last one. No it was simply her own fault, she had let her emotions get the best of her and had succumb to his advances with no resistance at all and let him fuck her up against a cold, brick wall in some dirty alley, before taking her to the nearest hotel they could find.

It hadn't even been nice, it had been pleasurable for sure and she had cum more times than she could count, screaming out her last orgasm for all of the world to hear, the people on the other side of the walls would definitely be complaining to the front desk this morning. But it hadn't been nice, their first time together at the campsite John had been considerate, gentle, tender even and each moment had made her feel loved and special. None of that had occurred last night, he had been rough, brutal almost. Each kiss and touch feeling like a punishment as much as a sign of passion.

She was certain if she looked in a mirror she would find numerous bruises on her hips and backside , not that she hadn't left her mark on him. She was pretty sure John would be wincing every time he put on a shirt for the next few weeks from the deep gorges she had raked down his back.

Finally deciding to get up, get dressed and out of the shitty hotel before John woke up, Rogue sat up slowly grimacing, her body ached so much it almost hurt. Yes there had undoubtedly been none of his tenderness last night. She took in her surroundings groggily, the room was even more pathetic in daylight, it's bright, sherbet yellow walls and moss coloured carpet almost gave her a headache. There was a sparse wicker chair in one corner with her dress hanging of it alongside her jacket, a daisy pattered lamp with her tights thrown over it by John's side of the bed and the rest of her clothes; her panties, bra, shoes and both purses were tossed carelessly on the floor.

Rogue risked a quick glance over at John to see if he was still asleep, she sent up a silent thanks to God that he was. He looked different as he slept, less like Magneto's henchman Pyro and more like John Allerdyce the mansion's resident show off. Sleep soften the hardness that had been present in his face ever since he join the Brotherhood, he looked young, boyish and handsome, her heart cracked slightly at the sight.

He's not that person anymore, no matter how much you want him to be.

She averted her eyes from his sleeping form and slipped out of the bed as quietly as she possibly could, walking on tip toes over to her black lace panties laying haphazardly on the hideous coloured carpet.

Rogue made quick work of putting her panties and bra back on and crept silently over to the wicker chair before sliding the ridiculous burgundy dress on and folded her jacket over her left arm. She just needed to put on her shoes and grab both her and Jubilee's purses and she could leave, her tights could stay on the lamp. Maybe it was the cowardly thing to do, just to run away, but quite frankly at that moment she was just fine with playing the coward.

She managed to get both her shoes on before she heard him move, her on body froze in panic.

"Bloody curtains, useless piece of fucking material." He groaned in a hostile, sleepy voice that she was certain would have made her laugh less than five months ago. She didn't turn around in the hope that if she didn't move he would go back to sleep. Luck didn't appear to be on her side, or maybe it was the fault of the wretched excuse for curtains, but either way he was awake.

"Well if this doesn't bring back memories"

Rogue slowly turned her head to glance back at John to find him propped up on his elbows smirking wickedly over at her. She was unsure what to say in that moment still crouched down on the floor ready to grasp both purses and run from the room. Deciding to end the awkward silence that he seemed to have no problem letting grow she mumbled out a quick "I didn't want to wake you" wincing at how croaky her voice sounded.

"Clearly. It's just like old times" he said, his smirk growing wider.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well it's not the first time you've tried to run off after fucking me is it?"

Her face flushed with anger and she rose up to stand, utterly indignant "That was different I had to get back to my tent before the others woke up and you know that"

"Hmmm" he nodded pursing his lips "And now? What's your excuse for trying to skip out on me this time?"

She raised an eyebrow incredulously at him, God he had some nerve "I never skipped out on you, you were the one that left me!"

John rolled his eyes before throwing back the white bed sheet and rising from the bed, Rogue blushed and averted her eyes from his naked form. Something he must have seen because he snorted mockingly at her "Where was all this shy modesty last night?"

She refused to answer him as he walked leisurely over to where his pants where hanging on the shabby, pine bookcase filled with three bibles, two joke books, a tattered copy of Great expectations and some New York tourist leaflets.

He shoved his pants on with little ceremony, watching her all the while she continued to stare down at her feet "Spare me Rogue, I left because I had too, because it was the right decision for me. You never gave any indication that night meant anything to you, despite what you say now. The fact that you broke up with Drake afterwards means nothing"

"It meant I was in love with you!" She shouted furiously at him, John's face when blank and she felt her own eyes widen at her words. She wanted to clap a hand over her mouth in horror like little kids do in movies or preferable suck the words back inside her mouth, so they had never been uttered. She didn't know why she had said it, she didn't even know if it was true but the words had slipped out without thought and left an uncomfortable echo in the hotel room.

She wasn't going to speak first, she point blank refused too, let him stew in the uncomfortable silence it didn't matter to her. Besides she wasn't entirely sure she trusted herself enough to speak, God only knows what would slip out, it seemed as though her wits completely left her when it came to John and she was done making a fool out of herself. In truth she was tempted to just leave, to just walk out of the door and forget about the whole mess of a situation, but the awkwardly blank look on his face made her stay. It was oddly satisfying to finally unsettle him the way he had constantly been unsettling her for as long as she'd known him, in fact it was tremendously satisfying.

Rogue folded her arms across her chest and continued to stare at John as he fumbled with his shirt, trying to get it to cooperate so he could put it on before finally giving up and tossing it on the bed with a huff of irritation. He took a deep breath before looking over at her, and for once she truly struggled to identify a single one of the chaotic emotions that swirled rapidly around in his dark eyes.

"If that's true then why didn't you tell Drake?" He asked with a remorseless stare that made her want to shake him senseless,

"I told you last night! I didn't tell him because you were gone so there was no reason to hurt him. He's a good person he doesn't deserve to be crushed like that, he's not like-"

"Me?" John said cocking an eyebrow with a cruel smirk fixed upon his lips "Is that what you were going to say that he's not like me?"

Rogue swallowed tightly "Us. I was going to say he's not like us."

He snorted in mock amusement and made for his socks that were by the foot of the bed, bending down to reach them he chuckled "I thought you were such a good little girl, Bobby and Logan's little princess that could do no wrong"

"Well clearly I'm not! Clearly I'm not a good person because if I was I wouldn't be here with you and I wouldn't have gone to your tent in first place either! Clearly I'm a selfish, horrible person because I let all of this happen!" She spat at him, hating the fact that she could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but there was no way she was going to let them drop in front of him, no she would let him think he had won.

Because at the end of the day wasn't that what it was all about for John, winning? Hadn't it always been? Always having to have the last word, the better comeback, the sharper wit, always having to prove that he was better than everyone else purely because that meant he won. He didn't care how hard he pushed, how much he hurt as long as it was clear that he was the victor. Had that been what it was about with her, winning against Bobby? Proving that he could take her away from his best friend if he chose?

God was that what it was? Was that why he was so concerned about Bobby knowing what happened, because it wouldn't be a complete victory if Bobby didn't know? Was that what this whole thing had been about?

She felt bile rise in her throat near on chocking her, she was an idiot, she was such a stupid idiot!

John opened his mouth to speak but she lunged for the two black purses on the hideous carpet and then practically ran for the door once she had them. The door had jerked open roughly and she was sure she had scraped her elbow as she dashed out of the room. She heard him call her name three times as she ran down the hotel's hallway before she heard him slam the door shut.

I've been such a fool.

…...

Rogue had used the last of her cash from her purse to get a cab back to the mansion. She was still thanking God that there had been a few cabs sitting outside the hotel when she ran out, she didn't know what she would have done if there hadn't been, because she had no credit on her phone and there was no way that she was going back inside to ask them to call one. No she wanted to be as far away from the hotel and John as humanly possible and as quickly as possible. So she had darted into the closest cab and stated the mansion's address to the driver in a breathless, rushed voice before begging him to hurry.

It's not that she thought John would chase her, but instead that she didn't want to still be around when he left the hotel room. He had had enough amusement at her expense, he didn't need to get a good laugh at her impatiently waiting for a cab after running off like that, too.

As soon as the hotel had begun to shrink into the distance behind her, she had let out a deep breath and slumped down in the backseat, finally letting her tears fall.

He had played her for such a fool and she was utterly humiliated, but worse than that was the realization that had stuck her as she had ran from the hotel room. She was in love with him, she truly was and her heart that had been slowly breaking over the last few months shattered.

The shame and heartache was unbearable, she wanted to scream and sob and wail, but all she could summon the energy for was those silent tears that ran down her face endlessly throughout the car journey, if the cab drive saw them he said nothing and for that she was eternally grateful.

"Here we are miss"

The driver's voice cut into her trance, she looked up to see Xavier's beautiful mansion right in front of them, slowly she reached for the door "Thank you"

"I hope you'll be okay miss." He said turning to give her a small sympathetic smile,

So he had noticed her tears, she simply blinked at him before nodding and climbing out of the car. Rogue walked sluggishly up the driveway to the mansion, everyone was probably worried sick about her, she had just disappeared last night. It was so irresponsible and selfish to have just left with no word to any of them, after all that had happened recently and all that was happening in the world right now it was so unfair to have made them all worry like that. Just one more thing to add to the ever growing list of things she had done wrong recently.

All she wanted to do was have a nice, long soak in a bubble bath and then to sleep until tomorrow, she didn't want to have to explain to Jubilee and the others where she had been and why she hadn't said anything to any of them. Storm and Logan were probably furious too and she really didn't want to explain anything to either of them either. God she was just so tired, maybe she could just have the bubble bath first then talk to all of them. She made it inside the mansion and upstairs before anyone noticed her and just as her luck would have it, it was Logan leaning up against her bedroom door.

"Where you been kid?" he growled.


	6. The Fallout

Where you been kid?"

Rogue winced as Logan asked the question she had dreaded, for a second time. She had no idea what to say to him, she should have thought of something to tell him on the cab ride back, but she had just silently cried and continuously thought about what an utter fool she had been. Well now she felt like an even bigger one, however one glance at Logan's face and Rogue knew she wasn't going to lie to him.

He looked angry and haggard but concerned and she hadn't realised just how much she wanted a friend that morning until that moment. She bit down on her bottom lip and felt more tears brim to the surface "I was with John." She almost didn't want to see what she was sure was going to be disappointment in his eyes, afraid he would turn from her in disgust. But when she looked back up at him she did not find either of those things, what she found was much, much worse, it was pity. A sob ripped out from her lips at the sight of it.

She felt Logan place an awkward but comforting arm around her "Come on kid, let's get out of the hallway" he mumbled as he opened her bedroom door and guided her inside.

She dragged her feet over to the large double bed in the centre of the room and sat down shakily on the edge, Logan shut her door then leaned back against it, still eyeing her with pity.

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Rogue rubbed her wet eyes hard enough that she saw stars "I went outside to get some fresh air, that's all. I had no intention of leaving, but then John showed up. I shouldn't have been surprised, he always loved that bar, he went there all the time before Alkali Lake" she paused and took a shallow, unsteady breath before continuing "Anyway he was there, we started arguing, he was so…he…God he was just so John that I lost my temper, I just couldn't deal with him so I started walking away. It didn't matter where I went I just had to get away from him….he followed and…." Tears were falling rapidly down her face again, God she had cried more in the last few weeks than she ever had in her entire life, and it was exhausting.

"Did he hurt you?" Logan rumbled, moving away from the door and crouching down in front of her, placing a large rough hand on her knee.

Oh yes John had hurt her, he had utterly destroyed her with all of his recent actions, he had broken her heart into tiny pieces. But physically no, sure he was a little rougher than he used to be, but she knew that he would never intentionally physically harm her, not after what Bobby had told her about what happened to John's mother, no he would never attack a woman. But the emotional and mental pain he had caused was much worse in her opinion than if he had hit her.

Still she shook her head at Logan "No."

Logan looked relieved, in fact he visually slackened and gave her knee a squeeze "Good, that's… good"

She nodded in agreement, nibbling on her lip anxiously, she didn't know how to tell him the next part, she didn't want him to think less of her, she wouldn't be able to bear it.

"What ha-"

"I slept with him"

There she'd said it, got it straight out in the open, she'd told the truth. Rogue waited to feel relieved, to feel lighter but she didn't, instead she just felt even more anxious the longer it took Logan to speak.

He just stared at her, his face almost devoid of any emotion, she was really getting sick of people giving her that look, and then she saw it. Pity swarmed his face again, pity and something else she couldn't quite recognize but she thought it might be understanding.

"Do you hate me?" she asked, her voice trembled

Logan looked startled by her question "No kid, I'm just sorry you're having to deal with all this crap"

"I think I hate me" she mumbled wiping her eyes "I hate that I got myself into this mess, I hate that John has become this person and that I still slept with him even knowing all I do about what he's done"

"Don't say that. Look I'm not judging you Marie, I get it believe me I get it. There are some people that you can never give up on, no matter how much you want to, no matter how much they want you too. You just can't."

There was so much sincerity in his voice, so much kindness in his face it made the tears fall quicker.

He's only soft like this for you, no one else, not even Jean gets this side of him.

He was in the same boat as her, she knew that. In some ways he had it much worse, in others she did, but they were definitely in the same boat, and he was hurting too. She reached forward and hugged him, careful not to touch his skin, because God only knows what happened to her gloves. They hadn't been in the hotel room when she woke up and she didn't really remember taking them off in the first place.

He hugged her back tightly in a rough bear hug that was just what she needed. He sighed heavily, rubbing her back in comforting circles "But just because you don't want to give up on them, it doesn't mean that you can forget what they've done. Pyro has killed people, Jean killed the professor. There are some things that people just can't come back from, even if they want too, there has to be consequences"

Rogue pulled back slightly to look him in the eye "What will the consequences be?"

"I don't know kid, first they have to choose to come back, the thing about redemption is that they have to want it, they have to be willing to pay the price for their actions."

She smiled cuttingly and nodded "I don't think I should hold my breath for John then."

In all honesty in that moment she wasn't sure if she even wanted John to come back, perhaps she did, no she knew she did. She wanted him to come back to himself, to come home but she no longer thought she was the one capable of helping him to do so. She had been nothing but a game to him, a contest against his friend and it was a bitter pill to swallow but swallow it she did. All she wished was that she had never realised that she actually loved him because it was only making her feel worse.

"Hey at least he aint got a dual personality" Logan joked half heartedly

"No he just chose to do all of those horrible things without any influence other than his own" she laughed sharply "I think I'd prefer if he did have an evil second personality because at least then I'd have something to blame other than him."

He sighed and stood back up "It doesn't make it any easier"

"No it probably doesn't" she agreed because really nothing could or would make losing the person you love any easier, even having something to blame. She had tried, when John had first left she had blamed Magneto, Bobby's brother, the police everyone but John, and the pain hadn't lessen or eased in any way nor had finally acknowledging the fact that it was John's choice made the pain any worse. It just remained a constant and aching wound inside of her that bled again at the slightest touch.

"I'm going to go tell Storm that you're back and you're okay so she can stop worrying. You just get some rest and I'll come see you later on." He brushed his hand lightly against the top of her head in goodbye and walked out, leaving her to the welcomed silence of her room.

…

It had taken roughly ten minutes for her to rise up off her bed and go run a bath in her en suite, she had pour perhaps way too much lavender bubble bath into the tub but found she really couldn't care less as the rich smelling fumes made her sleepy and calm. She had sat in the bath until her skin pruned and the water turned cold before sluggishly climbing out and drying off, wearily eyeing the hand shaped bruises on her hips in the bathroom mirror.

Rogue had just managed to dry her hair and put on her green flannel pyjamas when there was a knock on her door, she frowned not having expected Logan to come back for another few hours or so. She stared hard at the door really not wanting to have to face anyone else today, until she heard Jubilee's voice ring out through the door "Rogue, I know you're in there"

"Come on in Jubilee" she sighed and sat down her bed watching as her friend opened the door and causally walked inside, shutting it behind her softly.

"I'm expecting to win a holiday any day now" Jubilee claimed calmly with an air of cool collectedness.

Rogue merely blinked "Huh?"

"Coca cola are doing that whole win a holiday everyday thing again, and Mr Summers always used to say that I drink coke more than anyone he'd ever known, so I figure if anyone is going to win one of their holidays it's going to be me. So like I said I'm expecting to win any day now." Her friend stated with confidence as she came to sit on the bed next to Rogue.

"Oh. Right." She mumbled dumbly, not really feeling up to this kind of conversation, nevertheless Jubilee continued

"You get to pick where, so I'm think maybe Dubai or perhaps Venice. What do you think?"

Rogue just stared at her, struggling with the urge to just lay down and pretend to go to sleep until her friend got the message that she wasn't in the mood for chit chat. Not that it would work mind you, sure Jubilee would get the message but she would more than likely ignore it.

"I don't know Jubilee, I'm really tire-"

"I guess where I'm going with this, is that I'm just going to keep talking nonsense until you decide you're ready to talk about what happened last night." Jubilee interrupted.

Rogue winced feeling a wave of shame wash over her for worrying her friends "I'm sorry about that."

The other girl waved her hand dismissively "I'm not here looking for an apology, I'm worried about you. That wasn't like you last night Rogue."

She hung her head "I know, I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm okay"

"Are you?"

Rogue looked up into Jubilee's inquisitive but friendly eyes, she didn't know where to begin or if she even should tell Jubilee the whole story, she honestly didn't think that she could bare it if her best friend looked at her in the disgust she was sure anyone would when told what she had done. But then she had been wrong about Logan, he had understood.

"Is this about John?" Jubilee asked with such assurance that it was as though she already knew the answer.

Rogue fumbled for a whole two minutes before gasping out "How do-"

"Rogue honestly. It wasn't hard to figure out, you were so different after Alkali Lake, we all were but you were almost as torn up as Logan and Mr Summers, you were the first person to notice John wasn't back, you wouldn't speak after Dr Grey said he was with Magneto, you broke up with Bobby straight away when we got back, you flinched whenever someone brought John up. I mean anyone who was really looking would have figured it out." Jubilee said giving her a look that said 'really?'

"I slept with him the night before the others rescued you" the words fell out of her mouth without her consent, the urge to finally talk about the mess she's made of her life, with her best friend was overwhelming. And to her complete and utter relief there was no judgement or disgust on Jubilee's face just surprised wonder.

"How? Your skin?"

"I don't know how. That very same day I had nearly sucked the life out of him at Bobby's house to stop him from hurting anyone! But that night…" Rogue stared down at her bare hands nervously, the skin was so pale and unblemished from years of being hidden underneath the thick material of her gloves that they looked delicate and almost naked without them. She frowned deciding to cover them up while Jubilee was there, and reached over to the draw on her bedside table to pull a soft white pair out. She was surprised at how uncomfortable she felt with her hands exposed to her best friend.

"But that night what?" Jubilee questioned, glancing curiously down at Rogue's hands as she slipped on the white gloves "I guess I don't understand how you figured out that you could touch him? I don't imagine that you waltzed over to him and started prodding him with your bare hands and was like 'Yay I can touch you!' so how did you figure out you could?"

Rogue blushed, suddenly unsure of how to proceed, she took a deep breath before she began to explain "I went to John's tent that night" she watched as Jubilee raised an eyebrow in amusement "I know how that sounds but I didn't go there with any intentions other than to yell at him I swear! I couldn't sleep, all I could think about was all the crap that had happened that day and while there was no one I could really blame or have a go at in that moment for most of horrible events of that day, I could yell at John for what he did to the police in Boston. So I decided that was exactly what I was going to do."

Jubilee nodded "Fair enough, I get you wanting to have someone to take your stress out on and what better choice than Johnny boy?"

Rogue smiled at the other girl's slight jab, she had nearly forgotten how much Jubilee had enjoyed teasing John, back when he had lived at the mansion and John had always given back as good as he got. She had so many funny memories of the two of them bickering and snarking good-humouredly at each other in classes, successfully entertaining the rest of the students with their quick wit and playful insults.

"Yes so I went to his tent and proceed to have a go at him for forcing me to use my power on him, for hurting those people, and then…and then he made a comment about me and Bobby so I without thinking went to slap him, not realizing I wasn't wearing my gloves because I had been trying to sleep before I left my tent. He caught my wrist before I could hit him and…" she trailed off, biting down on her lower lip, still unsure herself about what had happened next.

"And what? What happened?!" Jubilee asked looking practically furious that Rogue had stopped mid-sentence.

"That's just it nothing happened, he was holding my bare wrist and nothing happened at all."

Jubilee went silent for a moment, contemplating all that she had just learnt before asking with a slow growing smirk "And then what? The two of you celebrated by jumped into bed together?"

Rogue blushed furiously, not wanting to admit how close to the truth that statement actually was, not that it had happened right away after the almost slap anyway. "No Jubilee, we talked for a bit first but yes, I guess you could say that if you want to be crude"

"So what happened last night then?"

Rogue sighed at the question feeling exhausted by all she had to say but still wanting to be honest with her friend, she knew it would be lifting a burden from her chest to tell Jubilee the truth and she was determined to get through this conversation sooner rather than later, so she launched into the long-winded story of both of her encounters with John since he had left the mansion.

She spared no detail and utterly unravelled the truth to the girl sitting opposite her, almost not daring to look up to see how the story was being received, but unable to stop herself from occasionally peeking up at Jubilee's expression for clues as to girl's reaction. Jubilee sat in silence and listened with unwavering attention, only nodding her head at the appropriate times to signal Rogue to continue on with the story.

With each word Rogue felt a weight being lifted from her heart, there was such relief at finally being able to talk to her best friend about all the pain and heartache she had felt over the last few months, however by the time she finished her story she felt the same anger and humiliation resting upon her shoulders as she had when she had ran from John and the hotel room earlier that morning. Explaining to Jubilee her realization about John motivates for sleeping with her, stung just as much as it had when it had first dawned on her.

"I think you're wrong." Jubilee said calmly after a moment's silence.

Rogue looked up from staring dejectedly at her lap "About what?"

"About John, about why he slept with you. I think you're wrong." She said it with such ease, as though her opinion was solid fact and could not be argued against.

Rogue sighed "Jubilee-"

"Look you can sit here feeling sorry for yourself as much as you want, I'm not judging you. We all like to throw ourselves a pity party every now and then, but I'm telling you you're wrong." Jubilee interrupted before continuing on in gentler tone "I think you're forgetting that John and Bobby were best friends."

"They were friends yes, but-"

"They were best friends Rogue. They annoyed and challenged each other yes and they were rivals in plenty of things but it was all harmless, friendly competition, they still cared about each other and stuck together through thick and thin. When you came along things changed though." Jubilee stated, standing up to stretch her arms above her head, groaning softly as her spine clicked and cracked "You and Bobby started dating but John liked you, everyone could see it, hell even Bobby knew. You my dear were the only one who remained oblivious."

Rogue stared rather speechlessly as Jubilee paced absently around the room, stopping briefly to search through the dressing table until she found a hair tie and piled her thick hair up into a messy bun.

"I don't understand" Rogue muttered, shaking her head in confusion "John liked me and Bobby knew? Why did Bobby still let us all hang out together if he knew?"

None of it made any sense to her, surely she would have noticed the kind of tension that situation was bound to raise, she wasn't that oblivious, she couldn't be. She had been so hyper aware of John in the weeks leading up to the attack on the mansion, she hadn't wanted to admit the reason for why at the time but now looking back she knew it was because she had been falling for him. So how had she missed that he had felt something for her at the time too, that he had felt enough for her for even Bobby to notice?

"I guess Bobby never felt that threatened, he never assumed that his best friend would make a move on his girlfriend, because John never really did anything other than flirt slightly and show off for you, it was all rather harmless." Her friend replied "You want the truth Rogue, I don't think the reason John is so concerned about whether or not Bobby knows has anything to do with competition or winning, I think it's simply because he feels guilty."

Jubilee came to sit back on the bed, tucking her small, blue sock clad feet underneath her bottom, she reached out and tenderly stroked a strand of Rogue's hair out of her face and tucked it carefully behind her ear. She gave her a soft smile "I think the reason he keeps asking if Bobby knows is because he feels guilty about sleeping with his best friend's girlfriend/ex-girlfriend whatever. They may not be friends anymore after all that's happened but it doesn't change the fact that he did once really care about Bobby"

Rogue swallowed down the large knot that had formed in her throat, she felt like an even bigger fool than she had earlier that morning. "I'm an idiot."

"Don't call yourself an idiot you're not, you just too close to see the whole picture, I have perspective because I have distance." Jubilee took her gloved hand into her own and squeezed reassuringly.

"I'm in love with him." The words came out a whisper, as though they would cause damage if said any louder, Rogue did not dare to look up at her as she spoke, instead she kept her eyes fixed upon their joint hands hoping Jubilee wouldn't pull away after hearing what felt like a dirty confession.

"I know" Jubilee whispered back with a playful twinkle in her warm brown eyes "Well I didn't know, but I figured."

"Should I even ask how or are you going to state how obvious it always was and how anyone with eyes could have seen" Rogue asked with a sad but slightly amusement smile, her friend grinned back at her.

"It was kind of obvious"

Rogue rolled her eyes and Jubilee laughed "No, I'm kidding, I guess it wasn't obvious, no one else has figured it out. So either I'm a genius or everyone else around here is ridiculously stupid. Now I want to say that it's me being a genius but you can't ignore the fact that several of our friends are seriously lacking in the brains department, not that I'm judging them, we can't all be thinkers."

Rogue found herself laughing, it wasn't a deep belly laugh or a loud obnoxious cackle, just a small, quiet chuckle but it felt wonderful. For the first time in a long time she felt some semblance of happiness.

"Truthfully it wasn't obvious, you did a good job of hiding it. Not recently though, you've been a little manic depressive recently but before the attack on the mansion I think you hid it well. I guess it was purely that you were different around John, I then thought that maybe you felt something for him too."

"How was I different?" Rogue chose to ignore the comment about her being manic depressive, but she was generally curious to hear how Jubilee had perceived her relationship with John.

Her friend shrugged her narrow shoulders "I don't know, you just were, I mean you always seemed to just gravitate towards him. You sought him out more than Bobby did, you included him in everything, always stood with him, sat next to him, always sort of put yourself in his way. It was kind of automatic I guess, you just seemed so drawn in by him, completely taken by everything he said and did, even when you were annoyed by him." Jubilee paused slightly before adding "And then there were these moments when Bobby was busy talking to someone else or looking down at his phone, where you and John would just share this look with each other and I don't know how to describe it but there was just something so private about the way you looked at each other in those moments that I felt the need to look away, as though I was intruding on something I shouldn't."

Rogue stared at Jubilee, the mirth she had experienced only moments ago having vanished, she missed John, the anger she had felt for him had faded slightly with Jubilee's insistence that he hadn't used her but she could still feel it lingering in the back of her mind. But talking about the way he was before he left hurt, it made the constant ache in her chest spilt and gape open painfully. "It sounds pretty obvious when you say it like that."

Jubilee shook her head "I'm the resident gossip sweetie, I spend all my time observing people. I pick up on things most others aren't even paying attention too, don't worry."

…...

"What should we do?" Emma Frost patiently asked the pacing Magneto, the sound of his heavy footed henchmen stomping around in the room above them was irritating her more than she could say, but still she remained collected and calm, appearing as tranquil and unfeeling as her carefully crafted reputation claimed she was.

"What can we do? You said Anna saw the certainty of the future" Magneto replied pressing two of his fingers against his lips until they turned white.

"She does, but I've come to discover in my life that everything other than death is negotiable." She answered coolly "We may be able to prevent what she saw if we act fast, if we kill the two catalysts of her vision."

Magneto paused in his pacing and tilted his head to look at the tall blonde woman sitting at his desk "If Anna sees the unenviable future then surely anything we do will lead to the exact same outcome"

Emma hummed her acknowledgement "It's a risk I'm willing to take."


	7. Your Conscience speaking

"So, you and Warren?" Rogue asked Jubilee who was sitting next to her up against the dark, oak headboard of her bed. After Rogue had told her friend the truth earlier that day about all that had happened with John, she had stayed with her for the rest of the day. The two of them had lain about on the bed talking about everything and anything, only leaving the bedroom once to wander down to the kitchen and grab armfuls of snacks, sodas and Jubilee's sandwich monstrosity, the ingredients of which made Rogue gag.

The sun had long since set and Rogue was no longer expecting Logan to return, but truthfully it didn't bother her. Jubilee had made it her mission to cheer her up and had succeed wonderfully, she had laughed more throughout the day than she had in the last four months combined, and it felt good. As the hours went by Rogue found herself feeling lighter and happier, the events of the previous night feeling further away with each laugh her friend provide her with.

"He's like a prince from a Disney movie" Jubilee replied, stuffing a worryingly large amount of peanut butter covered popcorn into her mouth, which was at least more appetizing than the peanut butter covered nachos she had been shoving into her mouth earlier, proving Rogue's theory that there really wasn't anything Jubilee wouldn't try with her favourite spread. "He's so bloody charming, he's like that dancing prince from Sleeping Beauty, what was his name again?"

"Prince Philip."

"Yeah that's the one! Warren is just like Prince Philip." It was a miracle that Rogue could understand a word Jubilee was saying with the speed of which she was packing food into her mouth between words.

"So you like him then?"

Jubilee rolled her eyes "No Rogue, I hate the guy who is the living embodiment of the ridiculously high standards Disney gave us for men." She dipped another nacho into the XXL peanut butter jar that was balancing precariously on her lap, making Rogue cringe in disgust.

"I don't think my standards for men came from Disney, I think given my track record they came from those horribly, dramatic Lifetime movies my mother used to watch while she did the ironing." She mumbled back at Jubilee, who snorted in amusement.

"It's not all bad, you dated Bobby and he's Mr All-American boy next door."

"Yeah and look how well that turned out, I just ending up hurting him." Rogue responded, looking down at the messy feast of snacks they had made on her bed, there was a single jalapeno brushing against her thigh which she picked up and quickly bit into, enjoying the instant burst of favour on her tongue.

"Oh Rogue enough, I get you did a pretty shitting thing and you feel bad, but it was months ago and Bobby is fine. Really he is, I personally think he has a bit of a thing for Kitty now anyway, not that it will do him much good what with her date with Peter going so well last night." Jubilee snapped at her.

"He's only fine because he doesn't know what I did, if he knew he'd hate me!"

"Yeah probably. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't be okay, it just means that the two of you wouldn't still be friends, but that would be his choice. Just as it was yours not to tell him"

"Do you think I'm wrong not to tell him?" Rogue asked, her voice wavering with uncertainty.

Jubilee stopped eating, her own doubt clouded her features. She pressed down on the nacho she held between her forefinger and thumb until it cracked. "I don't know, I get what you're saying about it only hurting him at this point, you're not together, you and John aren't together, and John's gone. But I can't say if it's the right thing to do because I just don't know."

Rogue sighed heavily "Me neither."

…...

Rogue woke with a sharp gasp, her chest rising and falling in a heavy pant, it almost burnt as the short bursts of air surged down to the bottom of her lungs. She swallowed down a painful lump in her throat, her tongue darting out to dampen her dry lips. The darkness of her bedroom a stark contrast to the bright flames of her dream, hot tears began to race down her flushed cheeks, a broken sob ripped itself from her throat.

It was the same dream as always that haunted her every night, screaming mutants, furious infernos and Pyro standing in the centre of it all with crazed eyes. It got worse each night, the screams grew louder and the fire fiercer until she could feel the flames eagerly lapping at her skin, scorching hot and excruciatingly painful and all the while Pyro smirks at her, his eyes lit with lust as he watches the fire devour her.

Sitting up Rogue reached over with trembling fingers and switched her lamp on, her eyes blinked rapidly to adjust as the room lit up slightly, the glow of the lamp casted shadows in all corners of the room.

I'm scared of him

The thought was jarring and unwelcomed but utterly true she realized. She was scared of him, it would be easy to say she was just scared of that side of him, Magneto's angry pyromaniac, as though it wasn't the same person. But it was John Allerdyce, the boy who would teased her and cause butterflies to erupt in the stomach, who was now burning down buildings with innocent people inside. John is Pyro, simple as that, and while she didn't want to accept it, that didn't make it any less true.

Rogue sluggishly climbed out of her bed, dragging her feet along the carpet as she wandered towards the windows, she desperately needed fresh air to clear away the nightmare from her head. She pulled the thick drapes open and awkwardly fumbled with the window's latch until it jerked open with a groan. The cool night air hit Rogue's face immediately and she closed her eyes in appreciation, sucking in deep breaths until she felt something near calm.

The mansion's gardens were beautiful at night, they took on a serenity that could never be found during the day, not with the loud bustle of students flooding the greenery. Rogue's eyes slowly opened and she peered out into the mansion's surrounding grounds, taking comfort in the still presence of her home, until she saw it.

Out of the corner of her eye, the refection of someone stood behind her in the window. Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening as her entire body went rigid. Fear travelled up her spine like sharp ice prickles, making goosebumps erupt all along her skin. Rogue opened her mouth to scream as the figure moved quickly towards her, the cry barely made its way past her lips before a large, thick arm circled around her waist and a large black gloved hand covered her mouth, muffling the rest of the scream. She struggled desperately against the figure's hold, kicking her legs out and thrashing violently around, looking for a way to break his grip on her.

Rogue's eyes widened when she felt a sudden sharp sting in her upper arm, reminiscent of the shots she had as a child, only far more brutal. Within moments her limps began to feel heavier, her struggle ceased and her eyes began to droop. A moment later the world went black.

…...

The short, frighten scream echoed throughout the halls of Xavier's mansion, jolting Logan from his fitful sleep. He shot out of his bed, tossing the sweat covered sheets away from his body. He didn't need to wonder where the noise had come from, he knew that scream, he would know it anywhere, God knows he had heard it enough times to know it by heart. That kid had a serious talent for getting herself into life threatening situations.

Logan ripped open his door and raced down the empty hallway, barely wincing at all as his claws slipped out from between his bruised knuckles with a satisfying snikt.

When he reached her bedroom door he wasted no time to see if it was locked and broke it open with one firm kick, wood splintering and he charged through. The moment Logan entered the sharp smell of Ketamine invaded his nostrils making him cringe.

"Rogue?!" He called out frantically, his hazel eyes rapidly searching the room for clues as to what happened, seeing nothing but the open windows.

"Kid?!"

"Logan?" Came Storm's panicked voice from behind him "Logan what's happened? What's going on?"

Logan didn't answer her though he just sunk to his knee in front of the window.

…...

It seemed as though it had been a lifetime since the three of them had just hung out together. Though the was no way it could have been, they hung out every day, they must had done so yesterday, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember if they had, it didn't feel like it. The whole atmosphere was steeped in a strange nostalgia and longing. 

They were lounging about in the rec room, Rogue was sat comfortably on the sofa next to Bobby with her legs thrown up over his lap as he sipped on a soda and John was stood opposite them, leaning against the pool table, flicking his lighter open and shut. The clicking sound it made, that she had found so annoying when she first met him, she now found comforting.

"I've missed this." She said softly, suddenly certain that it had been a lifetime ago that the three of them had been together. 

Bobby laughed, the sound was harsh and cruel, it was so unlike anything she had ever heard come from Bobby's mouth before.

"You did this." He stated "It can never be like this again, and it's because of you"

Rogue nearly flinched at the bite in his voice, her eyes flickering over to John, who smirked at her as he began to manipulate the flame his lighter produced.

"I never meant for any of this to happen" she whispered, a pain was spreading in her chest that felt familiar despite its suddenness.

"It's not all her fault" John said to Bobby as the flame between his hands grew larger.

"No I suppose not, I always knew you would leave one day. Do something stupid." 

Rogue glanced between them as they stared emotionlessly at one another.

"It's time to wake up." Bobby spoke evenly, not taking his eyes off of his former best friend.

She frowned confused "What?"

John tore his eyes from Bobby and stared down at her "Rogue you need to wake up now"

She opened her mouth to speak but the sound turned into a cry as John launched the ball of fire he had been playing with at her.

Rogue groaned loudly as her eyes struggled to open, once she finally managed to blink away the fogginess from her glaze she immediately wished to close them


	8. In The Waking Hours

Rogue's head was throbbing in time with the loud pounding she could hear in the room above her, the cold cement floor made her body ache as violent shivers racked their way through her. The room was slowly coming into focus, it was absurdly small with rough metal walls, low lighting and a damp, dirty floor. She shifted slightly, trying to stretch out her stiff legs despite the instinct to pull them closer to her chest to retain body heat, the shackles around her wrists made a horrid grinding sound as another shiver aggressively shot through her body.

Rogue kept her tired eyes strained on the tall figure standing across the room from her, she knew that face staring back at her with familiar scorn and poorly disguised contempt. His aged face was gruff and exhausted, just the way she remembered it and his thinning dark hair was sleeked back in an attempt to hid the lines of grey. She knew him, what she didn't know was how he was in the room with her, it was impossible but she was certain of his presence in there with her. It couldn't be her imagining him for comfort, it would never be him that she would choose for such a thing. In truth she hadn't thought about him in years.

"Dad?" Rogue whimpered groggily, her brow furrowed as he seemed to blur into the dark wall behind him. A sudden dark chuckle made her flinch, her eyes rapidly shot to the other corner of the room.

"Hallucinations, a common side effect of the Ketamine we used to sedate you." Mystique practically purred at her as she glided away from the shadows she had been reclining in with a feline grace that Rogue almost envied.

The beautiful blue woman crouched down once she was close to Rogue's shivering body, she tilted her head to side in curiosity "I do wonder though, why it is your subconscious picked your father, were you very close to your daddy?" Mystique asked with interest as though she was truly fascinated by who the younger girl chose to hallucinate about.

An awful wave of nausea hit Rogue hard, making her double over and bury her pale, sweaty face into her hands until it passed. Hot tears prickled her eyes and her throat burnt. She resisted the urge to sob, all she wanted in that moment was to be back at the mansion, warm in her bed with Logan nearby to keep her safe.

Once the nausea finally passed Rogue slowly lifted her head up from her trembling hands and was greeted not by Mystique's animalistic yellow eyes but by the bright blue ones of Bobby Drake.

"Are you okay Rogue?" He asked with concern, the expression on his face was so sincere it almost convinced her for a moment.

"You sick bitch" Rogue spat, her voice cracking with misuse.

Blue eyes briefly flashed yellow "Is this not what you want?" She asked.

"Go away, find someone else to torment"

Before Mystique could respond, another wave of nausea hit Rogue and she hunched over and emptied the contents of her stomach over the cold cement floor, some of it splatting up her arms as they trembled to keep her upper body from collapsing forward as she gagged violently.

She felt a large, rough hand stroke her back comfortingly as hot tears burnt their way down her face.

"It's alright kid, it's alright." Logan's voice rumbled softly

"Stop" Rogue sobbed "Please stop."

"I just want to make you feel at home." Mystique responded, she tilted her head slightly as she took in Rogue's pathetic trembling form, there was something close to pity in her eyes "It will all be over soon anyway."

More tears slipped down Rogue's pale cheeks "What will? Why am I here?"

The blue woman pursed her lips "You know I've never cared much for visions, and for those who claim to know all of our destinies. I've spent so much of my life having to listen to these wise mutants sprout out warnings and ominous advice on how to avoid said futures even though you never really can. That's the thing about visions and prophecies, they're tricky little bastards, they leave out crucial details, and it always ends up being the actions you take to avoid them that inevitably set them into motion."

Rogue leaned her aching head back against the wall "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Have you ever heard of the Hellfire club?"

"No."

"No, I didn't think you would have. They are very good at keeping their presence hidden, right up until they have you in their clutches."

Rogue frowned, her vision was blurring again and she was pretty sure the shackles were making her wrists bleed "Who are they?"

"They are the reason you're here, they have possession of a deranged child who claims to have seen the end of times in one of her visions."

The laugh that escaped Rogue's throat was harsh and cracked, and it surprised her just as much as it seemed to surprise Mystique.

"So that's it then?" She asked Mystique "Magneto's drugged and kidnapped me on the word of some kid?"

It was an absolute joke, but then again wasn't her whole life beginning to look like one major joke.

"I never said Magneto was the one behind your kidnapping." Mystique replied smoothly, she had abandoned Logan's form and returned to her own beautiful blue appearance.

Rogue shrugged, the immediate result of which make her wince as pain radiated through her body at the movement "I just assumed with you being my jailer that Magneto was lurking about somewhere near."

The blue woman rose to stand, "No he's not here, he's with the Brotherhood, and he wasn't the one who ordered your capture."

"Then who did?"

"Emma Frost, the current leader of the Hellfire club."

Rogue huffed, finally at the end of her patience, she could feel her stomach churning again and prayed she would be able to hold it together, she didn't know if she could handle vomiting again, "And who are the Hellfire club?!"

"Extremists."

"The Brotherhood are extremists" Rogue said with a glare

"If you think that, you should be terrified of this group" Mystique responded solemnly "You and Pyro."

Her eyes shot up "What?"

Mystique smiled "You weren't the only one involved in the child's vision."

Rogue felt her stomach drop in much the same way it often does when you find yourself falling in a dream, the effect of which make her nausea spike up, until she felt bile crawl its way up her throat. "John's here?"

The other woman nodded, her eyes never leaving Rogue's face, taking in every detail and flicker of emotion with warped curiosity.

"What do John and I have to do with some insane kid's vision?" The question forced its way out of Rogue's mouth with desperation, tears of confusion and frustration were slowly and silently sliding down her cheeks.

"Anna claims the two of you are the catalysts for that future."

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

Mystique laughed humourlessly "Well that's where the vision becomes conveniently obscure."

Rogue nodded with a small smile slowly working its way onto her mouth "Of course." She lowered her eyes down to her hands, she had been right, the shackles were far too tight causing them to tear into the delicate skin of her wrists, steady streams of blood slowly ran down from the open cuts to collect by her fingers and drip onto the dirty floor.

"Where is John?" Rogue asked softly, she knew that it was perhaps a mistake to have lowered her guard around Mystique, but she found she couldn't help it, the woman's unwavering pragmatism was oddly calming.

"He's being transported here as we speak."

Rogue continued to stare at her blood dripping from her fingers onto the floor as she asked "And why are you here?" She swallowed the bile rising in her throat, coughing slightly as the taste reached her tongue "If Magneto isn't here, and he's not behind my kidnapping, then why are you here? You said yourself you don't believe in visions"

Mystique clicked her tongue "I think that's enough questions for today." She walked towards the cell door, pulling it open before glancing back "I'll see that someone brings you some water, for that headache."

…


End file.
